Bravehearts

LEOMINSTER,  MA – The Bravehearts entered Friday night with a FCBL-leading ten homeruns, and Worcester added three more dingers tonight – all from NYIT players – in an 8-5 victory over the New Britain Bees from Doyle Field.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, EJ Exposito (NYIT) quickly got the Bravehearts on the board with a solo homerun. A few batters later and with Ben Rice (Dartmouth) on base, Joseph Pesce (NYIT) smoked a ball to left-center field for a two-out homerun to tie the game at three runs apiece.

New Britain reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning, but Worcester took the lead for good in the home half of the inning. Danny Torres (St. Leo) brought home two runs with a triple, and with Torres at third, Exposito belted his second homerun of the game to give Worcester a 7-4 advantage.

Worcester (7-4) tacked on an insurance run in the fifth on a Torres RBI single. The second baseman had three hits and three RBI, pushing his average to .385 for the season.

Worcester had scored the fewest runs (33) and had the worst team batting average (.208) among FCBL teams but had ten hits Friday night. The eight runs scored are the second-most runs scored this season for the Bravehearts.

Shawn Babineau (Franklin Pierce) was good enough for the Bravehearts to pick up the win. The lefty allowed four runs (two earned) and struck out six. Mitchell Pascarella (UConn) and Will Hesslink (Boston College) threw the final three innings without allowing a run; Hesslink earned his first save with Worcester by holding the three-run lead in the ninth. New Britain starter Alex Price lasted four-plus innings and surrendered seven runs (four earned).

New Britain scored the first three runs of the game – all in the third inning – to take an early lead. Todd Peterson, Matthew Bertochi, Danniel Rivera, and Griffin Arnone all singled with Christian Fagnant and Arnone picking up RBI. Fagnant and Ryan Bagdasarian scored the other two New Britain runs later in the game. The five hits for the Bees came from different players.

The win for Worcester gets them back in the win column after breaking their four-game wining streak versus North Shore last night. New Britain falls to 3-8 and has dropped four of their last five games.

Worcester continues its four-game homestand tomorrow night versus the Nashua Silver Knights. First pitch from Doyle Field is at 6 PM.